Post Game Quotes  Princeton vs. Texas (6/3/11)

Opening statement: First I think what a great environment for
the kids to be able to play in. This type of situation, in this type of
crowd, and a team with this kind of history and tradition that Texas
has, I thought we handled everything pretty well. Whether it was the
four weeks that we had off leading into it, we were a little rusty. They
scored two off Zak (Hermans) in the first without a hit, and one in the
sixth without a base hit either. So that's just not what you want to do
when you are playing a team like this is to give them free bases and
opportunities to put some runs on the board. Over the last four weeks we
were able to inter squad a little bit here and there, but it's tough to
duplicate what Texas has in playing live games. We got a little better
as time went on. When you have the chance to play with teams like this,
like teams in the ACC, SEC, what's noticeable is the athleticism in the
outfield, and you see the ground that the outfielders are covering, and
the jumps that they are getting are just phenomenal. It even extends to
the infield, the play that their second basemen [Etier] made in the last
inning kept things from getting really interesting on our side if we
were to get the first two guys on base, it would have made it
interesting. I am proud of our guys, I am proud of the way they handled
the environment.

On his expectations in the game: We were not looking to play a
close game by any means we are very disappointed in the result, but it's
a double elimination tournament, and I think we have a lot of excited
and hungry guys to get back out here tomorrow and play another ball
game, and see if we can an opportunity for ourselves to play Texas
again.

On his excitement in the first inning: I was definitely amped
up the first inning. The whole week you go into the game thinking that
you treat it just like another ball game, but then you get in the moment
and it kind of takes over you. I think that first inning I definitely
had some control issues, the adrenaline stuff had something to do with
that. Once I got through some of that, I got to pitching like I normally
do. I think the wild pitches are definitely un-characteristic of me,
and starting off like that was definitely not ideal.

On striking out high school teammate Jonathan Walsh:
I think after the first inning I was like okay I obviously hurt myself.
I had those walks and the wild pitch, and was not like they hit me, and
then I started to do what I normally do when I am pitching. Sure it was
fun to get Walsh out both times.

On facing Texas starting pitcher Sam Stafford:
I mean he spotted up his fastball, but I'll be honest, not seeing live
pitching in real games I think we had to shake some of the rust off like
Coach said. I think tomorrow we come out and face a guy similar to him,
so I would hope that we do a little better than we did. But I think
that once we saw him a few times we hit him a little better.